Iran - 20th Century History

Tehran

Capital of Iran

Mohammad Mosaddeq

Iranian prime minister who tried to nationalize the oil fields and was ousted with the help of the USA

Ayatollah Khomeini

Iranian religious leader who participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and became the country's Supreme Leader

Shah

Persian word for king

mullah

a Muslim learned in Islamic theology, religious leader

theocracy

a government controlled by religious leaders

coup d'etat

a sudden overthrow of the government

Baghdad

capital of Iraq

Persepolis

capital of the ancient Persian Empire

Saddam Hussein

dictator of Iraq

Pahlavi Dynasty

family (father, than son) that ruled Iran between 1926 and the Iranian Revolution

Shia Islam

one of the two main branches of Islam; majority belief in Iran

Farsi

the modern Persian language